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Whimsy Northwest – contrasting styles and subjects
By Mike Redfern
Two artists from the Terrace area of B.C. are exhibiting their distinctly different styles of painting in the Gallery at Centre 64 this month. They are Laura McGregor and Marie-Christine Claveau and their show is titled Whimsy Northwest. It opened September 26 and runs to October 21.
Most of the whimsical part of the show is contained in McGregor’s colourful abstract gauche paintings on linen. With a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, she went on to graduate from the Edinburgh College of Art school of drawing & painting in 2006. Her professional training is obvious in the quality of the unique abstract designs she has on display in this exhibition.
By contrast, Claveu’s art celebrates the beauty of our natural landscape, flora and fauna in a series of acrylic paintings of coastal mountains, waterfalls, wild flowers, birds and salmon. The colours are brilliant and bold, the compositions a dynamic balance of object and space. Although you can recognize each bird species, such is the accuracy of their depiction, the images are full of life and character taking them far beyond anything found in a guide book.
Although these two artists create very different works of art, they work together to push their experiences in the studio, questioning and learning from each other. Laura Mcgregor grew up in Southwest Ontario, moving to northwest B.C. in 2006. She has worked as an artist with adults with disabilities, at-risk children, and youth and has taught art in classrooms from kindergarten to grade 12.
She currently works at the Terrace Art Gallery. Marie-Christine Claveau, on the other hand, was born in Quebec and moved to northwest B.C. in 2001. She has spent most of her time outdoors enjoying the wilderness and helping her husband build their home on a small homestead in the Nass Valley.
This exhibition is one of the best of this year’s gallery offerings at Kimberley’s Centre 64 and is well worth a visit. All the artwork is very reasonably priced and some of the smaller paintings of birds would make perfect Christmas gifts for nature lovers or for anyone who loves good art.
The gallery is open from 1 to 5 p.m. every Tuesday through Saturday and admission is free, as is attendance at the closing reception on Saturday, October 21 from 2 to 4 p.m.
